RHS Science hosted its second annual PhD symposium in November. An opportunity to develop our growing PhD community- and our links with new and existing collaborative research partners, the event gets everyone together for a catch-up and keeps us all abreast of the exciting research currently ongoing by our PhD students.

Given that our RHS/ Reading KTP is all about boosting the profile of scientific research, I was involved in organising the event and this year, we were lucky enough to be able to welcome students (and their supervisors) from other horticultural research institutions including East Malling Research and Reading, Sheffield and Warwick universities.

So, on a chilly November morning, 60 keen scientists, researchers, horticultural advisors and KTP supervisors congregated in the Wisley Lab Lecture room for coffee and biscuits. In all, four RHS (full or part- funded) and five external students spoke on topics ranging from the taxonomy of hoop-petticoat daffodils to the role of biochar in the composting process.

Two of our PhD speakers at the symposium: Kálmán Könyves (RHS & University of Reading PhD) and Helen Thomas (East Malling Research & University of Greenwich). Both photographs courtesy of Alastair Culham, University of Reading.

Our post-lunch plenary lecture on the importance of communicating science to the public was given by Dr. Ken Thompson- plant ecologist, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield and author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers. With particular interests in the ecology of gardens and the promotion of science to the general public, Ken’s lecture couldn’t have had a more relevant audience!  Littered with personal experiences and full of laughs, his talk was a brilliant close to the day’s presentations.

As the day was really all about communicating science, it also proved the perfect opportunity to launch our hot-off- the- press Science prospectus.

A selection of pages from our first RHS Science prospectus

Having been involved in the design, development and production of the prospectus, I really do hope that this jargon-free summary of our research activities and interests will help raise awareness of what we do to a wider audience and continue to develop the growing, external profile of RHS Science.